Turnstile



y 941 w. .1. KENNEbY 2,250,305

' 'TYURNSTILE Filed Oct. 11, 1939 Patented July 22, 1941 ATENT orricTURNSTILE William J. Kennedy, Hollis, N. Y.

Application October 11, 1939, Serial No. 299,019

7 Claims.

lVly invention relates to turnstiles of the droparm type, in which thearms, as they are successively moved out of barrier position by passingpatrons, drop downward by their own weight, assuming a vertical positionat the rear of the stile, from which they are raised by power, as theyapproach the front of the stile and again come into passage-barringposition.

The common practice is to raise and lower the arms by having them rideup and down inclined portions of a fixed, curved or circular track, asthey are rotated in the operation of the stile. In addition to beingcrude and noisy, this method is objectionable for other reasons, suchfor example, as the awkward bulkiness given the stile by various formsof the track employed, which, in many instances, is exteriorly locatedand fully exposed to view, making it impossible to give the machine atrim, well-proportioned appearance,

attractive to the eye of prospective purchasers or users.

To avoid the above mentioned and other objections, I provide a simple,effective and inexpensive means for raising and lowering the arms andmount the same within the head casing of undue wear, without danger ofdamage suits from patrons claiming soiled and torn clothing from the useof the machine.

Differing from the ordinary drop-arm turnstile, the arms of the presentmachine are under complete regulation and control, both in being raisedand lowered and the weight of the downwardly moving arms is utilized toassist in raising the arms that are being moved upwardly.

The arm raising and lowering mechanism is in the nature of atransmission assembly, by which the rotary motion of the stile isconverted and transmitted to the arms to oscillate the same, whilerotating, through an arcuate path of ninety degrees.

This transmission assembly, in the present emeccentrioaily disposed tothe turning axis of the stile, so that as the stile is rotated, thethrow of the eccentric connections, transmitted to the arms, gives themthe required up and down motion into and out of barrier position.

Other structural features and advantages of the invention, not speciallymentioned above, will appear from the detail description that follows.

The accompanying drawing will serve to illustrate an embodiment suitablefor carrying the invention into effect but I do not wish to beunderstood as intending to limit myself to the exact form or detailsshown, as various changes may be made therein without departing from thescope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of a turnstile constructedin accordance with my invention, the lower portion of the pedestal orsupport being broken away and the arm at the center shown in barrierposition.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line s ---s of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line s s of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawing, I represents the usual supporting pedestalof the turnstile, 2 the head casing thereof mounted on roller or ballbearings 3, to rotate about an axis in the form of a spindle 4,non-rotatably secured to the pedestal by a cross pin 5. The head casingis provided with a removable cover plate 2*, to give access to themechanism therein.

The barrier arms 6 are pivotally mounted in equi-spaced relation in thehead casing. In the arrangement shown, the pivot pins 1 are horizontally disposed and secure the arms between parallel plate extensions8, 8 of the head casing, by which the arms are limited to motion aboutthe pivots in the plane of the turning axis 4 of the head.

Within the head casing there is a transmission assemblage, by which therotary motion of the stile is converted and transmitted to the barrierarms to oscillate them, while rotating, through an arcuate path ofninety degrees, as required in the drop-arm type of stile, to move theminto and out of barrier position.

The preferred form of this transmission assemblage or system, consistsof a separate link connection 9 from each arm 6, at a point [0, aboveits pivot l, to a fixed axis, shown as a spindle I l, eccentricallydisposed to the turning axis 6 of the head.

The links 9 may be connected to the barrier arms in any suitable or wellknown manner but are preferably pivoted thereto, as indicated at I2, thepivot pins extending parallel with the barrier arm pivots l.

At the opposite ends, the links have pivotally attached thereto strapsor bands I3, which encircle the fixed eccentric spindle H and are freeto turn about the same as the head casing is rotated.

The operation will be obvious from the foregoing. The throw of theeccentric linkage is such as to move the arm, shown dropped verticallydownward at the left of Fig. 3, to barrier position, shown by the arm atthe right, during a half revolution of the turnstile head and return thearm to vertical position, as the head completes the revolution and, asthere are four arms, they will be successively moved into barrierposition on each quarter turn of the head, which is the usual movementfor a complete turnstile operation.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a drop-arm turnstile provided with a head casing to which the armsare pivoted to have independent up and down movement, an actuatingassembly for the barrier arms mounted within and rotated by the headcasing, the said assembly turning about an axis eccentrically disposedto the turning axis of the head casing and having a separate connectionwith each of the barrier arms through which motion is imparted when theturnstile is operated to successively move the arms into and out ofbarrier position. 2. A drop-armturnstile, as defined in claim 1, inwhich the separate connection to each of the barrier arms is made ineccentric relation to the pivotal axes of the arms.

3. A drop-arm turnstile, as defined in claim 1, in which the separateconnection with each barrier arm is made by a link pivotally connectedat one end in eccentric relation to the turning axis of the head casingand similarly connected at the other end in like relation to the pivotalaxis of the arm.

4. A drop-arm'turnstile, as defined in claim 1, in which the actuatingassembly consists of a link connection between each barrier arm and aneccentric turning axis common to the several links, the connection tothe barrier arms being in eccentric relation to the pivotal axes of thearms.

5. In a turnstile, a rotatable head casing, a plurality of equi-spacedbarrier arms pivoted at their inner ends to the head casing andseparately connected to a common eccentric by which they are givenmotion about their pivots as the head casing is rotated causing them tosuccessively move into and out of barrier position.

6. In a turnstile, a rotatable head casing, a plurality of equi-spacedbarrier arms pivoted at their inner ends to the head casing andseparately connected at a point above and adjacent their pivots to acommon eccentric spindle by which they are given motion about theirivots as the head casing is rotated causing them to successively moveinto and out of barrier position.

7. In a turnstile, a rotatable head casing, a plurality of equi-spacedbarrier arms pivoted at their inner ends to the head casing and freelymovable about their pivots and link connections from the arms at pointsadjacent their pivots to a common fixed spindle eccentrically disposedto the turning axis of the head casing by which the arms aresuccessively raised and lowered into and out of barrier positions as thehead casing is rotated.

WILLIAM J. KENNEDY.

